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With their sedentary lifestyle and
filter feeding habits, clams have been silent witnesses to the
change that humans have inflicted on their waters. These clams
are silent no more, for scientists at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab
have demonstrated that it is possible to identify and trace
wastewater inputs to estuaries and coastal food webs by studying
the organic matrix in the shell of the hard clam
Mercenaria mercenaria.
the Qahog clam. Using this technique will allow
coastal researchers and managers to document increases in waste
loadings to coastal
waters over
long periods of environmental change. and look into the past and
trace human influences, in this case waste water pollution into
coastal waters. It will give essential information for
management and future research.
Massive swarms of stinging jellyfish and
jellyfish-like animals are transforming many word-class
fisheries and tourists destinations into veritable jellytoriums
that are intermittently jammed with pulsating gelatinous
creatures. Areas that are particularly hard hit by these squishy
animals are Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico, the east coast of the
US, the Bering Sea, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the sea of
Japan, Namibia, the North Sea and other European seas. The
swarms can cover hundreds of square miles and have caused
injuries and even occasional deaths to water enthusiasts, and
have caused serious damage to fisheries, fish farms,
desalination plants, ships and nuclear power plants.
Since 1980 jellyfish swarms have cost the
world’s fishing and tourism industries alone, hundreds of
millions of dollars and perhaps billions of dollars. From large
swarms of the lethal pea-nut sized Box Jellyfish of Australia to
swarms of hundreds of millions of refrigerator-sized jellyfish
in the Sea of Japan, suspicion is growing that population
explosions of jellyfish are being generated by human
activities.
Three young seals were released back into the
sea at Godrevy on December 17th, Rupert, aged one, Shawn and
Chomp, both four months old, had been looked after by the Seal
Sanctuary at Gweek after being found abandoned at a very young
age on beaches around Cornwall They were kept at the sanctuary
until they had reached the correct weight for their age and the
staff knew that they could look after themselves in the wild.
Shawn and Chomp both swam off straight away, but Rupert, who had
been with the staff much longer, was a bit reluctant to leave at
first.
A gannet chick was born very late in the
season, in fact the latest ever recorded, on an island off the
East Loathian Coast, but it was abandoned by it’s parents. It
was rescued from the sea on December 4th and taken to the Bass
Rock Seabird Centre. A local resident has been looking after the
chick for the past month and it has reached a weight of 4Kg and
is well enough to be released back into the wild. However the
seas are very cold off north Scotland and the weather too rough,
so the bird is being given a lift by a naval helicopter which is
coming to Culdrose to have a high-spec upgrade fitted, including
state-of-the-art infra red cameras to enhance its rescue
capability.
The bird will be taken to the Mousehole
Wildlife Bird Sanctuary for a few days to recover from the
helicopter flight and will then be taken out to sea by a local
fisherman and released. It has been fitted with two red rings on
its legs and it will not be known if it survives unless it is
sighted and reported, so keep an eye out for this gannet and
report back if you see it.
Bottlenose Dolphins were seen off St Ives on
the 6th, 7th and 8th of December and again on the 11th and 18th.
An adult dolphin with a juvenile were seen briefly close inshore
at Gwennap Head on the 1st of the month and these were thought
to be Bottlenose Dolphins. Harbour Porpoises were seen off
Gwennap Head, The Minack and the Brisons on various days. A
whale , thought to be a Minke Whale was seen off Gwennap Head on
the 11th of the month.
On returning from a service on 10th December
the St Ives lifeboat was accompanied by a pod of about 20
Harbour Porpoises all the way from Start Point in south Devon to
Lizard Point and they were travelling at about 20 knots. When
the lifeboat arrived around Lands End and off Wicca Cliff they
saw a pod of about 5 Bottlenose Dolphins.
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